The Adventures Of Photo Beard

Paperback version of Natural Moods now available

2011-10-04T09:45:00.000-07:00

So the website Blurb.com had a a little glitch a few months back and for a brief moment my book, Natural Moods, was available as a paperback. I fixed the glitch, but not before my cousins wife bought two copies of paperback.

No harm done, but after she told me that the book looked good that way I started to consider offering it to everyone. My brain works slow, and it's only just now that I've decided to make it available.

The paperback version is a little smaller, but I'm happy with the quality. I've been very impressed with Blurbs quality and would highly recommend the site to anyone looking to self publish.

I'm still a bigger fan of hardback photo books, but I do understand that some folks don't want to spend more money.

Now you have to purchase options if you desire to own Natural Moods (a collection of my nature photography). Paperback is $35.95, and hardback is $45.95.

Here's a link to the book: Natural Moods .

Most the images are also viewable on my website: Tom Wright Photo

Have a gravy day!

The Photography Gods speak to me, "Buy the 400mm lens"

2011-09-28T14:31:00.000-07:00

As you can see the images above the focus is crap. Part of the focus issue is on me and part of it is because I had to crop the crap out of these shots. (FYI: If you click on images from any of the blog post, you will get a larger look at the image)

I've been flirting with the thought of buying a 400mm lens for the last few months. A lens like that would of been perfect for this situation because I couldn't get close enough for great tight shots. My hesitation for buying the lens (besides the $8,000 price tag) is how often I'd use it. Well, it seems the Photography Gods have felt I should own this lens, as I have found myself in a lot of situations where the lens would of been called upon.

No situation more important (in my humble opinion) then what I shot this Wednesday (9/28/11) morning. I was taking a trek to the Ballard Locks (in Seattle, WA if you're unaware of where I'm living), and right near the salmon ladder the sea lions were having an all you can eat buffet. It was really interesting to watch, but frustrating since they were just out of reach for me to get the shots I would of loved to of gotten.

The Photography Gods have spoken, but will I listen?

The Roar Of The Lion

2011-09-23T15:02:00.000-07:00

During my trip back home last week I learned something that I had a strong suspicion about, I don't ever want to be a baby photographer. Thanks to my niece Annabelle for helping learn this lesson.

Now me saying my niece taught me this lesson doesn't mean she made me miserable, it was actually fun. I really enjoyed spending time with my niece, even during the photo above. But the thought of dealing with strangers cranky babies brings a very unhappy look on my face.

The point of the shoot were to get photos for the invitations for her first birthday party. Little belles momma was hoping to get a nice shot in her lion costume with the pumpkin, hay bail, and flowers. Belle was not going to have any of it. She would look so happy, then once the costume went on, she would start crying (maybe she was trying to do her best lion impersonation?).

Then you do all you can to try and make baby happy, find yourself making all sorts of strange noises and saying words in goofy ways (which neighbors next door must of thought there was a couple of really drunk adults just freaking out). I also noticed I tend to talk to babies the same way I talk to dogs (something I'm gonna try not to do anymore), "that's a gooood girl!", "over here girl, come on", etc.

After about a two hour attempt we tried to let her take a nap and hoped when she would wake up with a much better mood, but that wasn't the case.

After awhile of doing anything to entice her to smile we finally gave up and momma let her have naked time, which I learned my niece is a big fan of.

So, after finally getting a good mood from her, but afraid to put clothes on her and make her cranky again, mom grabbed belles tub filled it with water and set it in front of the hay/pumpkin set. Belle finally gave lots of smiles and joyful noises as we let her sit in the tub and splash the water, and we got some great shots.

While I'll never want to photograph other folks babies, I'll always be happily willing to photograph/hangout with my own niece. Below is a nice shot I was able to get after the day was done.

St. Mary's Glacier, CO

2011-09-19T10:20:00.001-07:00

Last week I took a little road trip back home to Colorado to visit family and friends. One of the main focuses of the trip was taking some pictures of my niece Annabelle for her birthday and a Christmas card (the Christmas card photos also included her dad (my bother) and her mom, but at less than a year old, baby is really always the star).

I'll have another post on the experience of doing the baby pictures, but this post will be about where we went for the Christmas photos, St. Mary's Glacier.

It was suggested by my Sister-in-law before I came to town to check it out. I had never heard of it (being that I'm from Colorado and spent the first 21 years of my life there, I would later feel a little embarrassed I never knew of this place). As we talked about what to do with their Christmas photo the decision pretty easily came that it needed to be outdoors and preferably in the mountains somewhere. Partly because they are outdoorsy people, but also because doing any of the other typical indoor Christmas themed photos seemed really boring (plus their not the kind of family that wants to wear matching sweaters, thank god!).

So the decision was to try St. Mary's Glacier (which non of us had ever been to), and what a great decision it was. This place is a great day trip to make from Denver, it only took about 45 minutes to get to it. And Although the elevation gain is about 1,000 ft. to hike to it, the hike is only about a mile or so.

Once you reach the base of the area you're greeted with a fantastic view of a little lake along with what is called St. Mary's Glacier. It's a perfect place to visit during those really hot Denver summer days, as the temperature always stays cool. The snow never melts and you can ski or snowboard it year round (in the picture above you can see a few black dots on the right side of the snow, those were folks skiing), but I learned it's not technically a Glacier. The reason it isn't considered a Glacier is because it doesn't flow, it never moves.

I still need to edit through the rest of the shots, but thought I'd at least post this photo. If you find yourself in Colorado, I highly recommend you take a look at this place. It's great for quick day hangout.

Zombies!

2011-07-03T09:44:00.000-07:00

Saturday (July 2nd, 2011) Seattle residents took a stab at setting the world record for most zombies gathered. The previous record was 4,093, and Seattle proudly broke that record with 4,522 zombies roaming the neighborhood of Fremont.

Being a zombie movie fan myself, it was really fun watching them slowly make their way down the streets. Felt like I was in one of the many zombie movies I love. Proud to say I survived the zombie attack, I always knew I could do it.

And I must say, they really deserved the record. Not only were they strong in numbers, but they were really into playing their zombie roles. Check out more of my pictures from the event at my website.

Solstice Parade

2011-06-20T16:59:00.000-07:00

I've posted a few images from the Solstice Parade held in Seattle, WA on Saturday June 18th. The parade took place in the neighborhood of Fremont and was run by the Fremont Art Council. It's was a really neat community participated event with a variety of themes to it. The parade began with around 500 naked cyclist with body paint. The whole event had a good spirit and seems to really be enjoyed by both the participants and audience. To view more shots from the parade, go to my website.

Book And Photos For Sale

2011-06-12T13:20:00.001-07:00

I'm currently in the process of having the website tweaked a bit, so at the moment it doesn't mention that photos are available for purchase. Both photos on the website and the Facebook page are available for purchase. There are certain photos that aren't for sale, but most are. If interested, just email me for details.

Also, I have my first book out and available for purchase. The book is titled Natural Moods and is a collection of my nature work to date. It can currently be found only online at Blurb.com, below I'll leave a link to it.

To view my photography:

http://www.tomwrightphoto.com/

To view my book:

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/2056578

Email me with any questons:

tomwrightphoto@gmail.com

Have a gravy day.

Hitting the Restart Button

2011-06-10T17:46:00.000-07:00

Here we go again, I've decided to take another stab at this blog. My first attempt was a failure for two reasons: 1) laziness and 2) lack of direction. I think I've solved both those issues for myself.

My plan for this blog will be a mixture of updates to what's going on with my photography, sharing of my experiences as I navigate my way through the photography world, and to share my thoughts and create discussion on not so much the technical side of photography (although I'm sure that will come up from time to time) but more on the philosophical. I hope to encourage great discussion on photography ethics. I'm sure that as this puppy goes along it will evolve and swerve off into many other topics.

At least to start I hope to post once a week, we'll see if there becomes a desire on my part to post more or less often.

If you're curious about my own photography feel free to check out my work at: www.tomwrightphoto.com or at my Facebook photo page (link to that page is in the right column).

I haven't decided what the first topic will be, but by Tuesday I should have another post.